


Oh, She Knows… Because I Confessed My Feelings to Her on a Bender

by gingergallifreyan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alcohol, Crack, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Post-Episode: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:28:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27344326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingergallifreyan/pseuds/gingergallifreyan
Summary: The Doctor messes up on the SS Madame de Pompadour. He has no idea how to fix it with Rose, so he visits a pub on New Earth and gets absolutely hammered. He meets someone unexpected and asks them for advice.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 22
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a silly lil fic involving a prompt from a while ago and I have NO idea where I saw it. :( Basically, it was you mess things up with your crush, get really drunk, unknowingly confessing your love to said crush, and ask them not to tell.

Three days. Three days he’d been puttering about the TARDIS, tinkering with the console or reorganizing the library.

He’d been waiting for Rose to find him. Maybe she’d pop into the control room, offering the exact spanner he needed. Rose always knew what he needed without having to ask. Or she’d grace him with that beautiful smile, the one with the tip of her tongue lodged between her teeth that he found himself more often than not desiring to chase with his, and ask him where they were going next. But he’d gotten nothing from her. Not even unlucky enough to have a Mickey sighting. At least that would have been some form of interaction with a sentient being other than his beloved time ship.

Three days the TARDIS had prodded him to seek out Rose. Three days he’d ignored her prompting.

Three days without Rose. Three long, lonely, quiet days.

Truthfully, he’d figured out quickly Rose wasn’t going to find him. “I’m always alright,” had been an outright lie, and he knew it, and he knew she knew it, and that wasn’t the worst of how he’d treated her. And for what? An attempt to force her to push him away because he hadn’t wanted to deal with the prospect of a life without her?

Sparks flew from where he’d joined two wires, and a string of Gallifreyan curses flew from his lips as he flicked his fingers in the air. “That was completely uncalled for!” She merely replied with the telepathic equivalent of _twat._ “Oh yeah, yeah, I am. I _know._ First class prat, me. I don’t need a reminder, thanks.” And how was he planning to fix things? “I don’t bloody know. I’m absolute rubbish at this. I can stop a whole war from ravaging the cosmos, but clearly I can’t handle something as important as this.” His voice lost its resolve. “She… deserves better than me.” Mmm, making this about him, was he? He rolled his eyes. “Course I am.”

If Rose hadn’t shown herself by now, she wasn’t planning to anytime soon. Thanks to good old reliable Tyler stubbornness, Rose would be able to hold out for quite some time.

He couldn’t. He missed her. And he knew just how badly he did as he didn’t even stop to check his appearance before he stopped at her open door. There she was, curled up against her headboard and clad in a fluffy bathrobe with her hair in a turban, a mint colored cream adorning her face. She was munching on some carrot sticks and reading a novel, some saucy alien romance thing by the looks of the front cover. All he could do was stare, his eyes zeroing in on the smoothness and curves of her legs, and the light scent of the lotion she’d used was intoxicating, strawberry something. Rose happened to crunch very loudly and cleared her throat as she flipped a page. He’d been staring for longer than he intended. “Ehm, Rose? I was wondering if you were ready to go somewhere else? It’s been a few days.” If he hadn’t had superior senses, he might not have caught the subtle raise in her eyebrow, but it didn’t take keen eyesight to see the rest of her gave no indication she heard him. “I’m sure Mickey, as much as he’s enjoying the swimming pool or the virtual reality arcade, would be happy to see another planet. Plenty of places for him to enjoy.” No eyebrow this time. “You could even pick if you like. I’d love for you to pick. I’m always picking places and the TARDIS goes where she wants anyway, but I’m sure she’d love for you to pick, too. And I’m ninety-nine point nine nine nine eight percent sure she’d listen to you.” Nothing. She wasn’t budging an inch. Blimey, he’d cocked this up worse than that time he’d accidentally crashed the TARDIS into the Tower of Pisa.

He needed to sort himself out before trying this again. He needed space, the kind he couldn’t find on his dimensionally transcendental time machine while Rose was aboard, and he left without another word.


	2. Chapter 2

Rose was having a lovely time reading her trashy alien romance novel. It had been the perfect distraction from her annoyance at the Doctor who’d found his way to her door after three days. She was surprised it hadn’t taken a full week as much as he was prone to running from his feelings.

Then the smut started. Tentacles were involved, and as absurd as that was, it did leave her slightly hot and bothered. And only reminded her of her feelings for that stupid alien of her own. She wondered, as she did often in solitary moments, if his anatomy was… unconventional, being that he was an alien, after all, no matter how much he resembled a human male on the outside. He had two hearts, two of _almost_ every organ, he’d said. Perhaps that was why she was drawn to these novels, a curiosity for which Jack had once ruthlessly teased her for when he discovered her reading one in the library. Rose had hated that he was right.

She hated even more that despite his being an enormous twat, she missed him.

 _Fine._ She’d go find him, but she wouldn’t allow him to whisk her off to their next destination without an apology. And based on his rambling when he’d stopped at her door, he at least knew things weren’t right. It was a start.

She sighed and changed into some pajama bottoms and a t-shirt and washed the mask off her face. When she arrived in the control room, she was surprised to find him gone. “Doctor?” she called down the corridor. Surely he’d come running at that, but he didn’t. The scanner beeped on the console and she stepped over to examine it. “New Earth? Why are we here again?” A yellow dot appeared on the map. “We’re in the city. And that’s… I think that’s that where we went last time.” As soon as they’d dropped Cassandra Chip off, Rose had remarked how hungry she was, and he’d taken her to a pub for some chips, after scanning her brain and giving her some paracetamol for the headache from the psychograft. Perhaps he’d returned for a cheeky drink. She reckoned he owed her one.

When she returned to her room to change, she found the strangest things laid out on her bed. A long, straight ginger wig, gray tunic, and a brown leather jacket. Next to it was a sterling silver watch. “What the hell is this?” The TARDIS hummed reassuringly in the back of her mind. “I’d never wear this in a million years.” The TARDIS hummed again. “If you insist.” She put on the… disguise, was it? She wasn’t sure why she’d need it, but she trusted the Old Girl with her life.

She found the pub easily enough from the map on the scanner. She also found the Doctor easily enough inside; he was the only one sitting at the bar. The publican noticed her with what seemed like relief, if she could make it out on his wrinkly, whiskered, pug-like face.

“What can I get for ye?” he offered as she took the stool one seat away from the Doctor.

“Chips and a pint,” she replied, offering her credit stick. She finally looked at the Doctor.

He was properly miserable, slumped over the bottle clutched in his hand. “I just don’t—I don’t know what to do.” He tapped the empty glass on the bar. “Get me another.”

“Sir, I don’t think ye should—”

“I’m fine.”

“Ye’ve ‘ad three already and ye said—”

Rose read the label: _Ginger Beer._ Oh. No, that wasn’t good. “Maybe something banana flavored?” she suggested.

The Doctor looked at her for the first time, confused as hell, and Rose would have laughed if she weren’t worried for him. “Yeah, banana’s good.” He looked at her again. “I’m the Doctor. Who are you?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t… know who I am?”

He wrinkled his nose. “I’ve never seen you before in my life.” Oh, he was _properly_ pissed.

The publican rolled his eyes as he set down her basket of chips. “Ma’am, ye can ignore him if ye like. ‘E’s been a miserable sod ever since he came in.”

“Yeah?” The corner of her lips turned up.

“Please, ye can take any other seat ye’d like in the house.”

“No, I’m fine. What’s he so miserable for?”

“Girlfriend troubles.”

Her jaw dropped. “G-girlfriend?”

“Maybe you can help me,” the Doctor interjected. “You’re a woman. Or… I don’t want to assume. Are you a woman?”

She snorted. “Yeah, I am.”

“Good. A bit rude, me.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Rose is making me better, though.”

“Oh? Who’s Rose? Is she your… girlfriend?”

He did his signature head tilt, a bit more exaggerated, presumably thanks to the alcohol. “Well…”

“Is she or is she not?” She doused her chips in vinegar and rolled her eyes. “Seems like an important thing to know.”

“She might as well be. We’ve never talked about it.” He tugged on his ear. “Well, I say we’ve never talked about it, but we sort of did, and that didn’t go so well. I didn’t even get to finish what I wanted to say.”

“Do you want her to be your girlfriend?”

“It’s not that simple.”


End file.
